Dragpocalypse: A Dragonrider's Unofficial Pathfinder Campaign Setting
by Isada
Summary: This is a campaign setting for a world with a dominant society of dragons intended for a Dragonrider campaign, but maybe it'd be a cool world for your campaign!
1. Chapter 1

Part 0: An Indexent Proposal

Part 1: Terms and Conditions

Part 2: An Ontological Examination, aka Skip

Part 3: Let There Be Overview

Part 4: Arbor the Wood

Part 5: Benthos the Deep

Part 6: Karoo the Desert

Part 7: Lea the Plains

Part 8: Nome the Urbanity

Part 9: Root the Underground

Part 10: Sine the Hills

Part 11: Stratus in the Sky

Part 12: Zenith the Mountain

Part 13: Dragons in Space

Part 14: Places of Interest, Specific

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Part 1: Terms and Conditions

Dragonrider

The term provokes countless reactions from dragons and their kind ranging from laughter to scoffter, cold rage to purest pity. To many, it embodies the last remnant of humanoid hubris amongst the broken and scattered non-dragon peoples who now share their place in the world of Dragpocalypse with the unthinking beasts, just below the sentient beasts. An equal number consider it a euphemism embodying the last and only hope of the humanoids in escaping their place in pyramid of predators and prey, for few among the Riders willingly call themselves 'familiars.'

Dragpocalypse

Unsurprisingly, this is a term coined by those same humanoids who would dare speak of dragonriders though perhaps not in the vicinity or thought-presence of any of their dragon overlords. The world of Dragpocalypse, to be described within, is one in which dragons and their kind have replaced humanoids as the dominant societals. Humanoid society now exists only in fragmentary or dragon-codependent form.

Humanoid Familiars

This guide assumes familiarity with the third party content class of Dragonrider released by Rogue Genius Games. It is herein interpreted as a dragon or one of its kind taking on a humanoid familiar. The class as written offers various apologies from both the humanoid and dragon perspective on conforming to the class restrictions. This guide offers another, more than one other, but all boiling down to the same short: power.

In this world, humanoids have lost all access to magic. At this time, some even question whether they ever had it in the first place. A humanoid who becomes a Rider gains access to magic. Though this will be touched upon again in greater detail, it is recommended for a campaign of entirely Dragonriders that the player of the Rider be allowed to choose a spell list at first level from any of the casting classes though conform to the class's other spellcasting restrictions.

The Dragonrider class offers very reasonable explanations from the Dragon's perspective. The Dragpocalypse explanations are less so being for the most part left to the reader. Rather than give justifications from the alien mind of a dragon, the effects and consequences of having that bond between two powerfully sentient and, in the case of the dragon, a truly powerful being are herein explored. The player of the Rider may put together their dragon's justifications from these pieces or may find it more stimulating to leave it a mystery to be explored during the campaign.

It is recommended that the DM control the use of the Dragonrider's void-jumping touched upon in Part 2 if the DM would like to use this unique form of teleportation at all.

Abusive Notation

Isada, you devilish old goat, you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. I do not even recognize that as a word.

You are most probably correct. I use the words that I like and while the derivatives of these words are likely words in English, the words that I use may not be. UNTIL TODAY.

One of them is humanoid-every PC race is going to be referred to as humanoid so I don't have to keep writing 'PC race,' which is more likely to break the suspension of disbelief that's already going to be stretched to the outer limits.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2: An Ontological Examination, aka Skip

I see you've discovered that, despite being author, I can't tell you what to do. Very well, I'll just have to live with that.

The Premise of Myth

Picture the ocean as a four-dimensional object. This is The Ocean. Every ocean in every world, in every universe is of The Ocean.

The Ocean is a Form, one of a group of objects that is here both the most essential and the fullest possible expression of itself. This Form, The Ocean, and all Forms exist across all worlds as oceans or what have you because the Forms are these four-dimensional objects, hereafter to be loosely referenced as tesseracts.

The Inner Sea of Paizo's Golarion is one face or Paradigm of The Ocean tesseract while Earth's very own Atlantic is but another Paradigm.

There can be countless Forms-The Mountains, The Forest, The City, The Village, ad nauseum if your world needs them. This guide however, is only interested in the Forms as they relate to dragons and Riders.

The Premise of Being

Consider the Paradigm of New York City. It's full of people. You would not find these people in the Paradigm of Paizo's Absalom. You would instead find humans, half-orcs, dwarves, etc. People are Paradigm-specific.

This campaign setting assumes that dragons are not. An urban dragon in the Paradigm of New York City is the same being of urban dragon in any Paradigm of The City. The red dragon in the Paradigm of Paizo's warm mountains is the same being of red dragon in the warm part of The Mountains. Dragons and their kind are not Paradigm-specific but Form-specific. They are not Forms, they are of the Forms. They are not Forms yet.

The Premise of Power

When a dragon, a Form-specific being, bonds with a humanoid as a Rider or familiar, a Paradigm-specific being, the two become a new being together as one. Each retains their old three-dimensional shapes and existences, but their bond adds a degree of freedom, a fourth dimension to their being. This fourth dimension is not so much perceived by dragon and Rider as it is acted upon. As a four-dimensional being, the dragon and Rider are tesseracts-they have become a Form themselves.

The Dragon And Rider is Form that exists within some environmental Form and Paradigm, say The Desert and the Sahara Desert. The dragon and Rider can't perceive their Formness, which means they exist entirely in whichever environmental Paradigm they're currently located, here the Sahara Desert.

The magic of the dragon and Rider, however, specifically teleportation, can tap into the Formness of The Dragon And Rider. Teleportation thus allows them to shift their Paradigm of existence from one environmental Paradigm and Form, the Sahara Desert of The Desert, to another Paradigm of the present Form, the Osirian Desert of Paizo's Golarion. This four-dimensional, tesseractile teleportation works three-dimensionally within the tesseract teleport as well, allowing the dragon and Rider to teleport from the middle of the Sahara Desert to the edge of the Osirian Desert if they so choose.

Mobility is power, especially mobility across worlds when your dominant society is a consumer society with destruction-loving members who actively wreck havoc on efforts by subordinates and equals toward productivism. Think mobility of self, of goods, of evils, of allies of enemies. Mobility is power but may be as simple and complicated as the power to escape and start anew.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3: Let There Be Overview

The world-building of the Dragpocalypse campaign setting focuses on dragon and kind communities of environments within this world of Dragpocalypse based on the environmental Forms referenced in Part 2.

The world of Dragpocalypse exists on the massive planet of Colossus. Colossus is a curious planet whose nine continents are of a single, Formic environment: forest, mountain, marsh, hill, etc., and which stretch to a cold north, hot south, rainy east and arid west. These continents are connected by the imaginatively named Sea of Colossus which also follows the easy-to-remember scheme of cold north, hot south, rainy east, and arid west. The interpretation of an arid ocean is left to the reader.

The nine respective continents are:

Arbor, the forest continent (including jungles)

Benthos, the continent sunk below the sea

Karoo, the desert continent

Lea, the plains continent

Nome, the urban continent

Root, the underground continent

Sine, the hill continent

Stratus, the sky continent (a liberal application of imagination is recommended)

Zenith, the mountain continent

Technically, there are ten Seas of Colossus, one between each of the nine continents. As the distinction of seas is irrelevant against the setting of the aquatic/sunken continent of Benthos, however, they will be glossed over in favor of examining Benthos and the Sea of Colossus as a single aquatic entity. The ultimate arrangement of the nine continents is left to the reader, though for ease of reference they will be treated as though in alphabetical order.

Colossus is the only planet in its solar system. It orbits a single sun-star, Solaris, and is orbited by a single satellite-moon, Lunarium. While the space-vacuum of its solar system is not inhabited by any viable Rider species, it is the home environment of Dragpocalypse's Outer dragons.

The world of Dragpocalypse has confirmed planes of Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Shadow, Heaven, Elysium, Abyss, Hell, and Boneyard, all inhabited by their respective planar, but these can be assumed to be equivalent to their official Paizo designations. The same goes for the Esoteric dragons in the Ether and Astral Planes as well as the Dimension of Dreams. While Occult dragons are also Esoteric, they live in the Material Plane and will be touched upon in Part 13.

Drag-dangit, Isada, you've touched upon an environment to which my favorite dragon/kind is native but you've failed to include said dragon/kind in the narrative. PM me through TTW or Discord and I'll take a look, though I can't guarantee it's inclusion.

Magic and Technology

As mentioned in Part 1, it is assumed that humanoids in the world of Dragpocalypse have lost access to magic although they can regain this by becoming Riders. As such, magic items can be discovered by any or crafted by Riders. Should you choose make use of the world-jumping aspect of Riders described in Part 2, magic items can be bought in other worlds and imported and would be exceedingly valuable-ripe for hoarding.

The world of Dragpocalypse is for the most part at a technological standstill. While tech could be imported by Riders from other worlds, most humanoid populations are under threat of dragons and kind and don't have the luxury of time for invention. Most live in state of hunting, gathering, and fear.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4: Arbor the Wood

Places of Interest: Glass Castle of the Linnorm King (Taiga), Court of the Green (Hylos), Village in the Mist (Akela), Village of Ash (Cardoon)

Taiga

Native species: Imperial Forest dragon, Forest drake, Tatzylwyrm, Taiga linnorm, Father of All Linnorms

Taiga is the cold, coniferous land that stretches from sea to sea across the Arborean North. The woods are lush evergreen to the west and white with the near-constant snows of the east. The pressure and pile of such snows has led to a phenomena known as a 'glass castle' where the snows upon a swathe of woods have crystallized into icen glaciers and trapped the trees within.

The Father of All Linnorms reigns supreme in Taiga and none dare challenge him. When he is not in a deep and frozen sleep within a glass castle, he prowls freely through Taiga, scattering all before him.

Taiga linnorms recognize only the Father of All Linnorms as the supreme. While traditionally solitary, should any other dragon or kind enter their coniferous territory, they attack as one.

Unfortunately for those broken and scattered fragments of humanoid society attempting to etch together a semblance of a life in Taiga, Imperial Forest dragons have claimed the deep but most habitable center of the land for themselves. Though solitary, each one is a malicious being who will go out of their way to hunt down every humanoid in a village should they discover such an establishment.

Should one encounter a Forest drake in Taiga, run. Run or hide. The solitary, pairs, or rampages of Forest drakes are here because their ancestors were driven out of the temperate forest just south of Taiga for being even crueler and more degenerate than the temperates. The relative scarcity of their favorite prey, elves and fey, here in Taiga has only drawn out and crystallized this nature.

Tatzlwyrms are the smallest of the dragon kind in Taiga. Their subterranean nests occupy the southernmost fringes of the land where they can stay well away from their deadlier cousins.

Humanoids have taken a hint from the Tatzlwyrms and keep their residences hidden and often underground should they be forced to sustain themselves at the fringes of Taiga. They wander in small, family groups of hunters and gatherers. Any family as large as a clan would draw unwanted attention from the dragons and kind who rule the land.

When the family needs more members, they wait for the women's period of fertility, then seek out another family. One or more women have ritualistic intercourse with the males of the other family to become pregnant. The children they bear are raised by everyone in the mother's family group and belong to this group.

The women of the Taiga families are revered for their ability to keep the entire family alive in this capacity. This leads the majority of families to look to a woman and mother as the head of the family.

Hylos

Native species: Jabberwock, Jadeling, Smoke dragon, Mist dragon, Gorynych, Green dragon, Imperial Forest dragon, Pseudodragon, Pseudowyvern, Tatzlwyrm, Forest drake

Hylos, the land of temperate forest, sits just under the frosty northern Taiga and follows its neighbor from sea to sea across central Arbor. The evergreens of the north filter into a forest of deciduous hardwoods and softwoods. Their deep root system keeps the trees of the arid west watered while those in the near-perpetually rainy east are protected by soil with excellent drainage that sends the rain into the underground rivers common to most continents on Colossus.

Though the Green and Imperial Forest dragons are typically solitary beings, their clash for territory and supremacy in Hylos has led to an alliance between the Greens to keep the Imperial Forests down. Most Hylean dragons and their kind have been forced to take a side, and because of their well-known proclivity for intelligence and cunning, humanoids may also find themselves involved whether by choice or drafting.

The only Hylean dragons outside the war between the Green and Imperial Forests are the unfathomable jabberwocks. These solitary but immensely powerful beings wander the temperate forests pursuing some purpose known and understand only by them. They are, however, creatures of wanton destruction who give this gift to any they meet in their wanderings. Allies who fall out of favor with the Greens are assigned the task of hunting Jabberwocks to win back their favor and place in the power structure, but for most the assignment is the equivalent of a death sentence.

The Smoke dragons, Mist dragons, Tatzlwyrms, Jadelings, Pseudodragons, and Pseudowyverns have allied with the Greens as a matter of self-preservation for the most part. The intelligent Jadelings are happy to use the order imposed by the Greens to climb the ranks normally unreachable to such small creatures. They serve as the eyes of the Greens, attaching themselves to the Greens's allies and serving as both liaisons and spies. This has given rise to a general distrust of Jadelings by everyone but the Greens.

The Smoke and Mist dragons as well as the Tatzlwyrms and Pseudowyverns have less interest in climbing social rungs than the Jadelings, but they would rather have the order of the Greens than be subjected to the wanton and destructive whims of the chaotic Imperial Forests.

Of all the Green allies, the Pseudodragons are the most empathetic. They are the ones to argue in favor of humanoid preservation, among other species, and form strong bonds with friends of any species. This has placed them at the bottom of the draconic pecking order.

The Gorynychs are the most powerful allies of the Imperial Forests. The Imperial Forests have fostered the Gorynych delight in killing dragons by rewarding them with the creature's land and treasures. They even allow the Gorynychs to take humanoid slaves.

The Hylean Forest drakes have allied with the Imperial Forests not out of any particular love of the Imperial Forests's chaotic brand of cruelty but rather out of spite. These proud beings would rather be 'free' or at least unregulated on their own, private territory under the Imperial Forests than bow to the artificial order that the Greens would impose.

The Imperial Forests only have room for humanoids as slaves and even then, these are the slaves of their Gorynych allies. Humanoids are permitted to live in small tribes under the Greens, but they must swear fealty and are closely monitored. Those with particular skill and cunning may be chosen for special tasks by the Greens, but the majority are serfs bound to the land and responsible for raising game for the Greens and their allies. They practice communal subsistence farming supplemented by little else as the surrounding woods and everything in it has been claimed by their overlords. Even the slightest infraction may be punished by the razing of farm or village.

Akela

Native species: Mist dragon, Kongamato, Korir-kokembe

Akela is the southeastern stretch of Arbor forming jungle between the tropics of Colossus and along the equator. The constant showers of the east have turned this jungle to rainforest while the continent's central jungle is sustained by the subterranean waterways. Heavy humidity often leads to massive, rolling waves of fog across the jungle floor.

While the Mist dragons are the most powerful dragons in Akela, these beings prefer to remain secluded with their clan from the comings and goings of the jungle. Mist youths, however, often come together during a massive fog wave to ride the mist and are sometimes stricken with curiosity by any humanoid constructions they should pass.

Although Kongamatos typically will not hunt humanoid prey, their taste for herd animals has driven humanoid villages into hiding to protect their farms and beasts. Some villages suffering a Kongamato attack never recover and are forced to separate into wandering tribes or clans to support themselves by hunting and gathering. Any settlement larger than a village has no way of hiding from the keen eye of the Kongamatos.

Akela's Korir-kokembes neither seek out humanoids nor prey upon them. Their symbiosis with disease-carrying vermin, however, turns all chance encounters with such beings into a nightmare of contagion. Anyone who reports of simply having seen a Korir-kokembe is placed in quarantine at best and at worst, killed or exiled.

Both the wandering groups and small villages of humanoids in Akela are exceedingly respectful and wary of the dragons and kind. Some make sacrifices to the Kongamatos in opposite directions from their villages in order to keep these beings at bay, although this practice also risks drawing the vermin of the Korir-kokembe. Any true bond between a humanoid and dragon is most likely to happen with a young Mist. While a travel-loving Mist would not anchor themself as a village protector, they perceive no shame in guarding their humanoid as long as their humanoid maintains what they consider proper bounds.

Cardoon

Native species: Lava drake

Though Southwest Arbor is blisteringly hot and arid, there is no shortage of vegetation in the forest continent. The trees here are hearty and heat-resistant such as the baobab, acacia, and all manner of succulents. There is a wide stretch of Cardoon home to cacti packed needle to needle known as Needle Run.

Humanoids who have committed the most grievous of crimes, such as inadvertently drawn the attention of a Lava drake to one of the hidden, underground villages, are exiled to Needle Run. Lava drakes rise en masse from the deep volcanic crevasses that crisscross the seaward edge of Cardoon. They are feared by humanoids not merely for the destructive threat they pose to villages, but for their deviant desire to be turn these humanoids into their cult followers and be worshipped as gods.

Those villages subjugated by a Lava drake are free to build above ground, but they must also make war at the Lava drake's whim and provide ritual sacrifices. It is not unknown for Lava drakes to raze such a village of cultists for failing to live up to the imposed standards.

Rampages of Lava drakes wander Cardoon as vigilantes of arbitrary law, usually fear and suspicion. Should a Lava drake's settlement of cultists appear to be too large or powerful, they destroy it with impunity.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Star drake, Elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Taniniver, Vishap

The Green dragons of Hylos have captured immigrant Guardian and Mithral dragons and bred them to serve their campaign and purposes. They are treated well and with great dignity so long as they maintain their place and due to their fewer numbers, they typically do.

Star drakes in Arbor rarely stay longer than a decade or so before migrating elsewhere. They are creatures of curiosity and true tourists, traveling the land and treasuring even the most harrowing experiences.

Elder Wyrms are hunted down in Taiga and Hylos by the linnorms and dragons who fear their power. In Cardoon, they are hunted by the vigilante rampages of Lava drakes in fear of being ousted as the local distributor of 'justice.' Elder Wyrms who find themselves in Akela, however, are rarely left in peace for the most part. It is there that they can act on their insistent sense of justice by appointing themselves arbiters of humanoid affairs. The clashes between two Elder Wyrms who have arbitrated different rulings on the same issue are as legendary as they are destructive.

Scitalises, beautiful but much weaker than many of their kind, are hunted for sport in Taiga, Hylos, and Cardoon. While not hunted in the jungles of Akela, they feed on herd animals like the Kongamato, which often leads them to be driven off by their much stronger competitor and die of starvation.

Taninivers are a plague not only upon Arborean humanoids but every race of dragon and kind on the continent due to their contagious dragon-blighting diseases. Should one be discovered, they are instinctively hunted down in every corner of Arbor.

The Vishaps's propensity to claim territory leads to them being hunted down in Taiga and Hylos, but because their interest is in the ley lines of a land, they are mostly left to their own devices in Akela. In Cardoon, they are only set upon if their activity draws the attentions of humanoids, as the Lava drakes cannot stand that any cultist or potential cultist might worship another dragon kind as god. The Lava drake rampages gladly kill both the 'false god' and their 'heretics.'

Dragonriders of Arbor

In general, immigrant dragons and kind are more likely to bond with a Rider due to their status of fleeting security in Arbor. Should an immigrant Rider be discovered, however, they are hunted at once in Taiga, Hylos, and Cardoon. They are treated with suspicion in Akela and must actively earn the trust of their neighbors, humanoid, dragon, or both, if they wish to avoid resentment, blame, and even hatred should calamity befall the natives.

Riders in Taiga are nearly unheard of, mythical in existence. They are seen as a turn of hope for the humanoids though may still be shunned due to the hostile attention they draw.

Riders in Hylos are propagated as a perversion by the controlling Green masterminds and those who kill them are afforded award and status. The propaganda is only reinforced by the Riders who bond with an Imperial Forest or ally for survival, only to discover they have almost no means of controlling the dragon's chaotic, destructive impulses and are simply a tool for accelerating the dragon's growth and power.

Riders in Akela are rare but not unheard of as even the curious Mist dragons tend to be solitary beings. Riders of the Mists are considered local heroic figures and are expected to act as such. Those who fail are ostracized by the humanoids and are even further distanced from the already suspicious dragons.

Riding is considered a privilege for only the most loyal of followers by the Lava drakes but is often seen as betrayal by the humanoids. There are as many Riders in Cardoon as their are fanatical Lava drake cultists, and each cultist Rider is expected to maintain if not heighten the degree of fanaticism that earned them the Riding privilege.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5: Benthos the Deep

Places of Interest: Rime Strait (Rime), Sunken Temple (Wegs), Raving Reef (Teresthai), Wandering Isles (Sea of Colossus), Maw of Colossus (Benthos)

Rime

Native species: Gare linnorm

Rime is the body of cold, gelid waters between the northern arctic reaches of the continents on Colossus. During winter months, the surface of Rime freezes over with a thick icen shell occasionally broken by the isle-sized glaciers that drift through its waters.

If the hostile temperature and lack of vegetation were not enough to deter humanoid settlement, then the presence of Gare linnorms clinches it. They will eat anything that enters the waters of Rime to feed their massive appetites and even prey on each other when food grows scarce.

Wegs

Native species: Mist dragon, River dragon, River drake, Gowrow, Gilded sea serpent, Spitting sea serpent

Wegs is the body of shallow waters off the temperate middles of the continents. These temperate waters deepen further from the land masses and eventually connect to the wide, open ocean, the Sea of Colossus. The waters of Wegs support underwater forests of kelp and underwater fields of seagrasses which help sustain the immense oceanic ecosystem.

The Mist dragons of Wegs have done their best to avoid the fiercer and more chaotic River dragons which has led to the River dragons claiming supremacy over the temperate waters. Mists always keep to a clan for safety while swimming and traveling the heavy morning fog that rolls in toward the continents as the Rivers will scald anything with impunity and treat all of Wegs as their territory. Territorial spats between River dragons are common and often create temporary pockets of scalding hot water that boil any passing creature. Rivers can't be bothered to clean the boiled dead, leaving them instead to wash up onto the continents, food for the birds.

When they are not preying upon those forced to fish for survival, the Spitting sea serpents and River drakes of Wegs war with each other. Their constant territorial struggle has caused Spitting sea serpents to stay in pairs to contend with the rampages of River drakes. As a result of these fights, wounded and dying, mostly the odd River drake, are so commonplace that they have become a staple in the aquatic ecosystem, especially for the vicious Gowrows.

In place of large herd animals, Gowrows have taken to preying on the casualties of territorial warring. Whether these be drakes, sea serpents, or dragons, Gowrows will finish them and dine sumptuously if somewhat cannibalistically. While typically a solitary creature, because Gowrows now feed on the same prey, they have an unspoken between them. This extends to the hunting of Gilded sea serpents as Gildeds travel in clusters for safety against such attacks. The only time Gildeds are truly safe is during the Gowrows's decade of hibernation. It is then that the Gildeds have and raise their young.

Aquatic humanoids who reside in Wegs have much to fear from the dragons and their kind, but the dense kelp forests and the remnants of buildings now ruined and sunk into the sea provide enough cover for a small family in a large area. Each additional family in one location increases the likelihood that a humanoid will be found and lead to all of them being preyed upon.

These aquatic humanoids have evolved to be parthenogenetic-they can become pregnant without intercourse. The death of one or more members of a family is the most common trigger for one or more living members to become pregnant. The children are raised by all who survive and never leave the family if they can help it.

Teresthai

Native species: Mist dragon, Coral drake, Gilded sea serpent

Teresthai is the body of shallows off the southern tropics of the continents. Most notably, the waters of Teresthai are home to stunning rainbow reefs of Colossus. The reefs support one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, helped by the fact that few dragons and kind have a taste for these perpetually warm waters.

Coral drakes are the most vicious of the dragon kind predators in Teresthai, but their greed for hunting grounds is kept in check by the clans of wandering Mist dragons and clusters of Gilded sea serpents, who could easily overpower the solitary corals.

The Mists and the Gildeds try to avoid one another for the most part. As long as the Mists stick to hunting larger prey and the Gildeds to medium prey, they have no quarrel, and most are perfectly content to keep it that way.

While the aquatic humanoids in Teresthai are still vulnerable to attacks by Coral drakes, the Mists leave them alone. The Gildeds, however, are happy to prey upon any of these medium-sized beings that wander into their hunting grounds. By keeping track of the Gildeds's rotating hunting grounds and staying mobile, aquatic humanoids are able to sustain themselves in hunting and gathering clans. Clans rarely band together unless each member has shrunk in population as humanoid tribes are much harder to hide from the Corals.

Coral gestating season is the only time that Corals are less sensitive to signs of humanoid activity as the drakes become enervated and stick to their lairs. It is then that humanoid clans will seek each other out to allow their youths to find marriageable mates. Clans tend to be matrilineal with males joining the clan of their married pair as additional protection for the next generation.

While everyone in the clan protects the young, the older generations of a family raise the children belonging to their family. Members of a clan are generally forbidden from marrying to prevent incest as they do not keep written records of the bloodlines. Instead, the elders of a clan arrange to seek out different clans from generation to generation as they are the ones with the most extensive memory of the clan's history. This has naturally led to rule by counsel of elders although because clans are not very large, those members who are of age are generally allowed to express their opinions at the clan meetings. The elders simply have the final say.

Sea of Colossus

Native species: Imperial Sea dragon, Brine dragon, Cetus, Dragon Turtle, Shen, Fanged sea serpent, Shipbreaker sea serpent

The Sea of Colossus is the body of international waters that make up the planet's vast open ocean. Many powerful currents run through these deep, wild waters that stretch between the continents. Traveling with these currents can reduce the travel time of even the largest of dragons across the ocean, making them an extremely valuable resource.

Imperial Sea dragons, Brine dragons, and Shipbreaker sea serpents constant contend with one another for huge oceanic territories. The Brines, led by a circle of their Great Wyrms, have banded together to attempt a systematic distribution of territory. The Shipbreaker sea serpents absolutely refuse to conform to any Brine ruling and in their awesome might actively hunt and kill the Brines who approach them about such treaties. Unfortunately for the alliance of Brines, the have no support from the Imperial Seas, either. While the Imperial Seas don't support the Shipbreakers and do their best to avoid those mighty sea serpents, they believe that the territorial regulations of the Brines would put an end to the free and wild seas that they love. Thus, they drive off but try not to kill any Brines who come to them about negotiations.

The Circle of Great Wyrms attempts to impose its will on the lesser threats (than the Shipbreakers) with contingents of younger Brines assigned together as watchers. The Cetuses, Dragon Turtles, and Fanged sea serpents can't rely on the 'protection' of the Imperial Seas, who are as likely to turn a blind eye to others as drive off the Brines on them. Nor can they count on the Shipbreakers, who would sooner prey upon them. Their best hope, which is still exceedingly slim, is to seek out the protection of a Shen in its mirage castle. Even then, a Shen will only protect those beings who become their subjects and servants.

Shen rarely venture out of their mirage castles, but when they do, neither the Imperial Seas, the Brines, nor the Shipbreakers are eager to deal with them and risk utter destruction. Shen are regarded as near-gods, barely mortal incarnations of the Sea of Colossus itself. While the dragons and kind don't go so far as to worship Shen, they give them at least grudging respect.

The Sea of Colossus's Cetuses, Dragon Turtles, and Fanged sea serpents who have not pledged their servitude to a Shen can typically be found avoiding the Brines and Shipbreakers on territory claimed by the Imperial Seas. They dare not attack each other while in Imperial Sea waters, nor do they dare attack the Shipbreakers as they are not guaranteed any aid. They do, however, freely hunt other, non-dragon creatures, including any humanoids who have somehow found themselves in these waters, most likely by mistake.

Wide, wild waters of the open ocean offer no protection whatsoever to any humanoid who might find themself here, and thus there are no settlements of any size to be found in the international waters of the Sea of Colossus.

Benthos

Native species: Deep Hunter sea serpent, Brine sea serpent

Benthos is the floor of the world, the deepest, darkest, and most crushing of Colossus's environs. The temperature varies widely throughout the seafloor depending on one's proximity to one of the many thermal vents. These vents are the source of diverse and flourishing life independent of the light of Solaris. Tectonic activity periodically changes the shape and placement of the immeasurably deep trenches that gouge rifts into the seafloor.

Deep Hunter sea serpents rule the depths of Benthos. Solitary beings, they tend to stick to their own lair and hunt on their own territory. They do not hesitate to kill any Brine sea serpent on their territory. This has left the Brines with a burning hatred for their larger cousin.

Should a Brine discover a fight between another Brine and a Deep Hunter, the uninvolved Brine will attack the Deep Hunter not to aid their brethren but out of spite. Several Brines together are capable of killing a Deep Hunter. This does not, however, improve the intelligence of the Brines. The victorious Brines almost invariably end up killing each other in a fight over the Deep Hunter's lair shortly thereafter.

Even aquatic humanoids have not adapted to the pressure of the deep, which remains unsettled by their kind.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Star drake, Vishap

Immigrant dragons in the open Sea of Colossus and in the shallows of Teresthai have the advantage of not being actively hunted down as in Rime, Wegs, and even Benthos, though even among Star drakes, few dare to plunge to those depths for an extended visit, much less to join the ecosystem.

The Mist dragons and Gilded sea serpents of Teresthai leave immigrants alone for the most part. While the Coral drakes are still a threat, most immigrants must swim out of the shallows to hunt on open seas not claimed by the Corals, Mists, or Gildeds anyway. While this puts them at risk of being discovered and preyed upon by a contingent of Brine dragons or the odd Shipbreaker sea serpent, it is the surest method of maintaining the relative peace in Teresthai.

Hunting in the Sea of Colossus is risky, but residing there is even riskier. While the immigrants have their choice of servitude to a mostly benevolent Shen or keeping to the semi-protected territory of Imperial Sea dragons, servitude is the safer choice. Often times, the other dragons and kind in Imperial Sea waters realize that there will be less prey when joined by the odd immigrant and may sabotage that immigrant. The Imperial Seas don't allow dragon in-fighting in their territory, but they aren't always around and neither do they question the sudden disappearance of a tenant.

The treatment of Guardian dragons, however, is an exception. Due to their immense power, the presence of a Guardian tends to incite a temporary alliance among the native species of a region to different methods of approach. In Teresthai, the alliance aims to drive the Guardian out to the open waters of the Sea of Colossus. In the Sea of Colossus, the presence of a Guardian strikes fear among the Brines and hatred among the Shipbreakers. While the two groups do not formally work together, they do use each other and their proclivities to take down the discovered Guardian. Any Vishap who dares to claim territory is likely to meet the same end as a Guardian.

The Gare linnorms of Rime and the River dragons of Wegs actively hunt down all immigrants. Both have turned it into a sport of sorts, with the presence of even a single immigrant setting off a massive hunt joined by all Gares or all Rivers in the vicinity.

Dragonriders of Benthos

Immigrant dragons are more likely to bond with a Rider than other dragons in Benthos simply due to the fact that their lives are in greater peril anyway. The added attention for having a Rider tends not to change that.

Riders in Rime are unheard of due to the fact that Rime's arctic climate has prevented any humanoid settlement. A Rider who travels to Rime, however, can count on being hunted by Gare linnorms.

Riders in Wegs are hunted by River dragons and shunned by the aquatic humanoid communities for the undue attention that they draw. They are not welcome among the relatively peaceful Mist dragons as they are similarly viewed as a disruptive oddity and reason to fear the Rivers. The smaller dragon kinds tend not to bother the Riders who've been exiled possibly into their territory. It is not unusual for a Rider to become a shepherd for the smaller kinds who allow them to hunt and hide on their territory. Any Rider who protects a species that attacks a humanoid community, however, is instantly reviled by that community.

Riders in Teresthai are shunned by the Mists, who view riding as a disruption to their community order, but they are considered a boon to the aquatic humanoid clans as defenders, especially against the Coral drakes. Although humanoid clans can't risk open communication and harboring of a Rider lest they draw Coral attention, they keep secret communications with Riders, who can help distract a hostile dragon long enough for a clan to escape into some safer hiding.

Riders are bred and raised in the Sea of Colossus by the Brine dragons under orders of the Circle of Great Wyrms. Riders are used as a first-strike task force against the greatest of threats, Shipbreakers and the occasional Guardian dragon. As such, they have something of an honored position in Brine society although their loyalty to the Great Wyrms has been bred to the extreme to avoid any threat of insubordination. Due to their presence in Brine society, other natives of the Sea of Colossus are hostile toward any Riders they might encounter. Should the Brines discover a Rider bonded to a non-Brine, they first attempt to negotiate and integrate the Rider and dragon into their society and then follow up with beneficial brainwashing to ensure loyalty.

Riders in the deep darkness of Benthos are for the most part nonexistent due to the immense pressure and extreme conditions of the water which only the few can tolerate.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6: Karoo the Desert

Places of Interest: Natural History Museum (Tundar), Badfield (Vanta), Maze of Dune (Asharu)

Tundar

Native species: None

Tundar is the frozen desert that stretches across the north of Karoo. The land is entirely barren, devoid of all vegetation and even bacterial lifeforms, sterile, as it were. As such, this environment inhospitable to the idea of an ecosystem is entirely uninhabited in the Material Plane. Should one encounter a lifeform here, it likely will not remain living long enough to leave Tundar and will instead be perfectly preserved under crushing layers of wind-shaped ice.

Vanta

Native species: Amphiptere

As the term 'temperate desert' is ripe for confusion, Vanta is now known as the badlands of Karoo, a desert whose scrub experiences four seasons. In springtime, the sparse vegetation springs into sparse bloom. In summer, the sun burns away the scrub and their fallen flowers-this is literal; late summer is also known as wildfire season. In fall, the ashes of the scrub fertilize the ground and rejuvenate the hardy bulbs, root systems, and tubers. In winter, frigid winds blow the barely-held ashes and dust of the land throughout Vanta, reshaping the landscape. Winter is also known as windstorm season.

Despite the harsh conditions of Vanta, life finds a way. Unfortunately for the humanoids settled here, that way has led to a mass propagation of the Amphiptere, the hamster-tier breeding machines of the dragon world. The creatures simply and swiftly outnumbered any that might prey on them and had the good luck of being the only dragon species native to Vanta at the dawn of Dragpocalypse.

The land now belongs to the Amphipteres who patrol their territories in huge flights of 18 or more able to take down even the strongest of Vanta's other inhabitants by sheer number. When a flight can't find enough food to sustain itself, it will attack a neighboring flight and cannibalize any of the dead that come of the attack, including those from its own flight.

Humanoids are a favorite prey of the Amphiptere and had they the intelligence, they would invariably domesticate them for livestock. As it is, they've merely hunted humanoids into near extinction. Humanoids exist in scattered families who hunt, gather, and keep careful track of flight movements.

Most humanoid families live underground in small, concealed dugouts. Depending on the activity of the nearest flight, they may have to rotate dugouts every night.

When a family needs new members, one family will search out a another and, sometimes wordlessly, negotiate a trade. If a family needs more protection, for example, they might trade a child for a young adult. Elders are the only family members who are not traded. They are the keepers of a family's history, and it considered an honor and a miracle to become an elder of a family. A family's collection of oral history and stories is considered its most treasured and sacred relic.

Asharu

Native species: Blue dragon, Brass dragon, Amphiptere, Desert drake

South of Vanta is Asharu, a desert of the genuinely sandy, broiling days and chilly nights variety. During the daytime, mirages are common occurrences and lead many an unwary or fatigued being astray into deadly pockets of quicksand. Sandstorms are even more frequent and devastating, the orange-gold sands capable of abrading soft flesh to the bone in minutes.

Wellsprings spring from underground rain-fed reservoirs and create the occasional oasis, the most valuable resource in the desert. As such, they are points of contention among the dragons of Asharu. Those who control the oases also control all the surrounding beings dependent on that water.

Amphipteres are far from the dominant species and apex predator of Asharu. Most of them are bound to the oases of the Blues as the Deserts take no prisoners and the Brasses drive them off at the insistence of the humanoid tribes that they protect. As subjects of the Blues, their population is strictly regulated, often by deadly sport.

Blue dragons, Brass dragons, and Desert drakes endure a constant struggle of war and supremacy over the oases. Blues, as the most naturally organized of the Asharu dragons, hold the majority of the oases though are almost matched by the Brasses, who have delegated planning and organization to the humanoid communities to whom they have given refuge and continued protection. Those oases controlled by Desert drakes are held only due to the sheer number of the Deserts in mega rampages upwards of 20 drakes.

The Deserts have no interest in coexisting with or enslaving other beings. They attack on sight as a full rampage and will not stop until the intruder on their territory is verifiably dead. They will leave their oasis to chase down such a target. Should they find an unclaimed oasis, the rampage will determine if this oasis provides better hunting grounds and settle accordingly, potentially abandoning their old oasis entirely.

The Blue dragons of Asharu don't fight for control of oases out of need for water but from a desire for control. Unlike the Deserts, they are capable of keeping ecological balance on their minds and would never exhaust an oasis's resources to the point of cannibalism. Instead, they rigidly regulate the water consumption and grazing of all creatures on their territory and accept tithes of life in payment for keeping the species alive. The Blues set these tithes loose within an oasis-free hunting ground, give them a head start, then take their time wearing the creatures down.

With the mega rampages of Desert drakes proving a true and deadly threat and the Brass dragons not opposed to driving the odd Blue off an oasis, the Blues have been forced to band together into a loose coalition even more organized and efficient than the solitary Blue. Each oasis is presided over by a Great Wyrm, each independent of other Great Wyrms but overseeing the younger Blues of the lair. The old and the wyrm form the Great Wyrm's guard force while the adults make up the task forces. The juveniles and young are tasked with learning and are constantly pit against each other both to strengthen the young, weed out the weak, and maintain a sustainable new generation of Blues.

While Brass dragons have no need for the water of the oases themselves, they value the intelligent conversation, gossip, and other entertainments provided by humanoid tribes, who do need the water, especially for their herd animals. Brass dragons shepherd the tribes from oasis to oasis held by fellow Brasses where the humanoids can safely water their flocks. Brasses guard the resting oases for the sake of the humanoids.

While the tribes know of each other through the Brasses and their love of gossip, due to the dangers of inter-oasis travel and the risk of overgrazing, few humanoids encounter a fellow outside of their own tribe. Even trade is a purely internal tribe affair, and mostly bartering at that. The tribes are subsistence herders without any true monetary system although they keep track of debts with knots on a rope of hide.

While the Brasses handle the protection of their most entertaining wards, the humanoids arrange the rotations and travel logistics through the tribe elders. The elders cannot order the Brasses, but their dragon protectors respond well to reason when combined with rhyme and other interests. It has become a tradition to stage a grand display or even play of sorts for the Brasses when the tribe is in need. This has developed into a regular, peacetime staple.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Star drake, Elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Taniniver, Vishap

Should an immigrant species wind up in Tundar, they either die of extreme weather conditions, die of starvation, or leave.

While the Amphipteres of Vanta are capable of taking down even the mighty Guardian dragon with their obscene numbers, the careful immigrant can make a life in the temperate badlands of Karoo. Those who draw attention to themselves, however, are promptly swarmed and possibly devoured.

The great pride of the Blues of Asharu leave them open-minded about making slaves of any immigrant race, even a Taniniver, typically used as a weapon. Those who refuse submission are attacked and killed while those who submit are subjected to a period of probationary brainwashing to reinforce their loyalty (perceived dependence) on the Blues.

The Brasses will harbor immigrants up to an oasis's capacity, Taninivers excepted, but if a humanoid tribe is suspicious of the other dragon, they will first ask the other to leave, driving them off only as a last resort. Due to the dangers posed by the diseases of the Taninivers, these are driven off on sight and killed on approach.

Asharu's Desert drakes kill any intruder on their territory without exception. In their mega rampages, they are more than enough to handle even the mighty Guardian dragon, although this typically results in pyrrhic victory.

Dragonriders of Karoo

Only in Vanta are immigrant dragons the most likely candidates for Rider bonding. There, it is a matter of survival against the Amphipteres. Even then, because of the attention drawn by Riders, they can't stay with a humanoid family. They must either survive alone or immigrate again.

There are no humanoids in Tundar to bond with any passing dragon.

Riders in Asharu are almost exclusively bonded to Brass dragons. Despite the potential power, the bond is seen by the Blues as the extension of the revoltingly close relationship between the Brasses and the humanoids. Blues do not even keep humanoid slaves so as not to tempt any dragon slave from bonding with them. Instead, captured humanoids are 'tithed' to the dragon slaves, reinforcing a disdain of them and Riders by extension, the idea that they are not worthy of even being slaves.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Riding is extremely common among the Brasses. Many develop a favorite humanoid and offer to bond with them both as a deepening of their personal bond. This is seen as sacred and inviolable as a marriage bond although it tends to be purely platonic in most cases.

While becoming a Rider is considered a high honor, it does not remove the Rider from their place in the tribe nor excuse them from their daily duties. Neither does it change their position among the Brasses apart from letting all the dragons know that they are the favored humanoid of one of their own.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7: Lea the Plains

Places of Interest: Will-O-Bog (Bogach), Bridge of Reeds (Mariskaz), Village in the Shadow (Meithleorai), Crown of Salt (Zabana)

Bogach

Native species: Tarn linnorm, Mist drake, Nycar

Bogach comprises the frigid floodplains of northern Lea, stretching from one swamped coast to the other. The eastern and western seaboards are perpetually cold salt marshes that lose salinity but not chill as their waters travel into the continent.

Tarn linnorms haunt the cold, misty bogs of Bogach. Though they sleep for centuries at the bottom of the marshpits, the weaker denizens live in fear of the time when the two-headed beings will awaken. The yearly earthquake or the odd swampgas explosion is enough to send every lifeform in Bogach scrambling for a place to hide.

When the Tarns finally rise, it is only the sheer number of the other dragons that keep them from extinction during the season of the Great Hunt. The Tarns kill first for sport and second to fill themselves for the next hibernation. This, their short period of wakefulness, also serves as their breeding season. The common method of courtship is to compete for the most kills, the third reason to kill.

During the hundreds of years while the Tarns sleep, the Mist drakes in their rampages reign supreme over Bogach. Territory belongs to rampages as a whole with border disputes/slaughters involving these whole rampages. Power constantly shifts between clawed hands with no single rampage ever continuously rising above the others.

Though tiny, clutches of Nycar can be just as deadly to the humanoids of Bogach as a pair of Mists. While they will attack a lone humanoid, they tend not to attack the greater numbers of a whole family. If the humanoids of Bogach discover a clutch of Nycar eggs, they often take them to raise the Nycar as protection for the family. A clutch raised by humanoids is not any more docile than the wild Nycars, but the family is able to point their savagery away from its members.

Humanoids in the cold wilds of Bogach survive as hunters and gatherers in family units. They typically keep a hidden residence in the swamp much like a beaver's dam on some far, less-patrolled corner of a Mist rampage's territory.

Different families keep track of each other and carefully arrange marriages when children are born in order to prevent incest. These arrangements include to which family a child will marry into when grown and which families their children must avoid.

As the swamps of Bogach, deep and frigid, do not easily transmit disease, families tend to let their dead sink to the bottom of the very marsh on which their camouflaged abode floats. This has given rise to the belief that their home is protected by the spirits of their ancestors. Children are popular targets for these stories of defending ghosts and zombies.

Mariskaz

Native species: Smoke dragon, Peluda

Eastcentral Lea is dominated by the vast marshscape of Mariskaz. Much of Mariskaz lies below sea level, combined with soil unable to handle the daily rains, the land has turned to wetland over sinkholes. This region of Lea has begun to crumble into the ocean with more landmass getting carried off by the tide every year.

The Peludas are the masters of Mariskaz and turn every foray by the water's edge into a nightmare. Ravenous at all times of the day, even after gorging themselves, Peludas attack and attempt to eat everything that wanders into their territory. What they cannot eat, they regurgitate into the swamp, enriching the disappearing soils with nutritious detritus.

The Peludas prefer the wetness of water to the wetness of the squelching wetland floor, leaving the drier stretches of Mariskaz to the far dociler Smoke dragons. The Smokes do not go out of their way to attack every living thing that enters the territory of their wing and primarily eat fruits and vermin.

The humanoid tribes of Mariskaz often befriend nearby wings of the Smokes by leaving out fruit for them. Befriended Smokes who are allowed to hunt vermin in the tribe's village do so with minimal property damage.

The tribes tend toward subsistence farming and away from hunting and gathering, an activity which invariably puts them up close and personal with Peludas. The Peludas make swamp travel nearly impossible to the effect that tribes rarely trade with each other beyond what they can persuade a Smoke to fly and carry over.

More importantly, this has led to a high potential for birth defects among a tribe's people without much new blood. Marriages are stringently regulated by the tribe elders. Children are treasured by the village and raised by both family and extended family, which is oftentimes everyone in the tribe.

The dread of Peludas in the water has led the humanoids to an aversion to water and all forms of water travel as a result. They do not even bury their dead in the water. Instead, tribes hold funeral pyres at their village center and sow the ashes over their fields. This has given rise to beliefs that the ancestors protect the tribe lands and walk among the fields.

Meithleorai

Native species: Salt drake, Psiwyrm

As one heads west, the wetlands of Mariskaz rise up to become the grassy plains and salt flats of Meithleorai. Though expansive, the flatlands offer few places to hide from airborne predators.

Psiwyrms are the overlords of Meithleorai. With their ability to stay airborne for exceedingly long periods of time, nothing escapes their watchful eye. Meithleorai has effectively been divided into the territories claimed by pairs of Psiwyrms. The Psiwyrms, understanding that there isn't enough land to go around, independently maintain a low birthrate with a pair typically laying either one or two eggs in a lifetime.

While territorial conflicts are common, Psiwyrms keep busy lording over all the other beings on their own territory for the most part. They demand tribute from their subjects and may take without warning though not without respect for the needs of the entire ecosystem. Psiwyrms may prey upon a species to the verge of extinction but never past it.

The Salt drakes of Meithleorai would prove a threat to the Psiwyrms except that the Psiwyrms strictly regulate the Salt population. Anyone found hiding Salt eggs is promptly torn apart along with their entire family, and the eggs are taken by the Psiwyrms. If the Psiwyrms don't eat the eggs, Salts who have been captured for defiance are forced to do so.

Psiwyrms allow the humanoids of Meithleorai to hunt, gather, and farm, but do not allow any grouping greater than a village. The humanoids are left to their own devices except when their overlords decide it's tribute time and come to call upon the village with devastation.

Humanoids leave in shadow and terror of the Psiwyrms overhead and most never dare to defy them. They simply make the best lives that they can for themselves and hope they and their family are not targeted during the time of tribute. Humanoid families tend to be very large just in case.

Zabana

Native species: Gold dragon, Salt drake

The salt flats that begin in Meithleorai extend south into the heat and golden-grassed plains of Zabana. The heat of midday is deadly to both the plants and denizens of these savannahs, and wildfires are not uncommon during the hottest months of the dry season. These are rejuvenating fires, however, and return nutrients to the poor soils that would otherwise be unable to support any life at all.

Gold dragons rule the grass plains of Zabana but leave the salt flats to the Salt drakes. They are beneficent rulers who follow a strict code and leave their subjects to their natural order unless there's an infraction. The natural order includes the wildfires and their devastation, which has bred some resentment from their sentient subjects. Few, however, are powerful enough to challenge the supremacy of the Golds and their law.

The Golds themselves obey their Circle of Great Wyrms, though these eldest and most powerful of the dragons typically slumber in lairs below the golden grasses. Elder dragons preside over a territory from a lair while the younger dragons patrol their family's territory, observing for the most part. They hunt as well but with control and consideration for the ecosystem.

With limited land and resources in a territory, the Golds do not permit humanoid settlements to exceed the bounds of a village. Humanoids may hunt, gather, and farm, but their hunting is as regulated as the Golds's own.

Unlike in Meithleorai, humanoid settlements can and do trade with each other. They don't have a true monetary system, instead trading with barter and keeping track of debts with animal teeth on leather strings. Most villages keep and tithe herd animals to the Golds. Those that do not typically tithe hunted prey instead.

Villages, acknowledging that the lands have been given to them by the Golds, tend to treat their lands as communal properties and leave the delegation of jobs and labor to the village elders. Families raise their own children, but these children also learn at the feet of a Gold emissary when they are old enough to manage classroom etiquette.

Elders teach history and the oral traditions of the village while the Gold emissary teaches the children about the processes of the natural world and how to respect these processes. With this knowledge comes responsibility, however, and any adult humanoid found despoiling a Gold's territory is exiled to the salt flats and the whims of the Salt drakes.

Though the Salts primarily consume salt, the rare presence of a humanoid on their mostly barren territories is a delicious treat that few can resist. A humanoid presence can even become the catalyst for a territorial struggle between multiple Salts at once.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Star drake, Elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Taniniver, Vishap

Immigrant dragons in Lea are more likely to prey upon humanoids than bond with them as Riders due to either the lack of a powerful native threat, for even in Bogach the mighty Tarn linnorms typically slumber, or because they were recruited to join the native ruling species, as with the Psiwyrms of Meithleorai.

In Bogach, most immigrants can hide or hold their own against the Mist drakes. Thus, they carve out lairs at the fringes of Mist territory. The Mists can either tolerate the newly shared hunting grounds or attempt to drive out the immigrants, which occasionally succeeds. These immigrants treat those humanoids they encounter as prey.

In Mariskaz, as long as they stay out of the water, immigrants quickly become the dominant dragon of their territory. Those that attempt to take a watery territory find that the Peludas will attack en masse and incessantly until they have killed the intruder, regardless of the cost of Peluda life.

Immigrants in Meithleorai are taken in by the Psiwyrms and made a deadly part of their infrastructure. The strongest are allotted territory on which they may do as they please. Newer, weaker immigrants are herded onto this territory as prey. Those who defy the Psiwyrms may find themselves here as well.

Due to the delicate balance of the ecosystem, the Golds of Zabana ask all immigrants to move to the salt flats. While some do comply, others must be driven off by force. Those who survive contend with the Salt drakes to claim the hunting grounds necessary for survival.

Dragonriders in Lea

The hostility of the immigrant dragons and that of the dragons in most regions of Lea have resulted in an absence of Riders in Bogach, Mariskaz, and Meithleorai. The Golds of Zabana, however, occasionally take Riders.

An exceptional humanoid can sometimes attract the attention of the Golds. They can be rewarded by being taken as a Rider by one of the Golds. This marks their exit from humanoid society and entrance into dragon society. Their bonded dragon is their patron and held responsible for their actions. Should the humanoid offend the Golds, both they and their patron are banished to the salt flats.


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8: Nome the Urbanity

Places of Interest: Melting Eye (Nome)

Nome

Native species: Rope dragon, Calligraphy Wyrm

Immigrant species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Star drake, Elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Taniniver, Vishap

Nome is unique in Colossus for being the only continent left on the planet not only full of the remnants of old city but surfeited with them. A mass expanse of unbroken but mostly abandoned city sprawls from north to south and east to west across the continent. The cityscape along the east of Nome has flooded, but the many tall buildings render the east still inhabitable. Plants grow in, out, and through the buildings, sometimes crushing them in their coils and other times providing new support.

Moreover, Nome is the largest immigrant refuge on the planet. There are more immigrants here than native species as well as a greater number of immigrants than on any other continent in Colossus. Immigrants have carved out enormous districts of Nome to claim for those of their kind.

Rope dragons and Calligraphy Wyrms are the only dragons and kind that can be found in the city ruins throughout the entire continent. Rope dragons typically maintain their shape-shifted stealth, shifting out only to abscond with the remains of food from other dragons to eat. Calligraphy Wyrms, however, work with other dragons, acting as the record and lorekeepers of their deeds. As the work of the Calligraphy Wyrm tends to appeal to the pride of dragons, these diminutive dragons are not attacked and may even be protected by the subject of their lore.

Meanwhile, humanoids have been effectively eradicated from the cityscapes of Nome. There are rumors of humanoid sightings, but the Calligraphy Wyrms have had trouble confirming the truth of any of these rumors. Should a humanoid be discovered, they could prove a rare delicacy or a curiosity depending on the dragon.

Guardian District

Guardian dragons's combined territories form Nome's Guardian District, a massive strip from the frozen north to the searing south right down the center of Nome. Guardians combine the already labyrinthine nature of the city ruins with the labyrinth of their extradimensional dungeons to keep all who wander in lost and trapped within the shifting walls. They've cultivated an entire ecosystem of non-draconic life within the Guardian District this way. They ensure that those who enter and those born here can never leave.

Mithral District

Mithral dragons have claimed the cityscape of northeastern Nome, east of the Guardian strip and north of their generally non-hostile, temperate Star drake neighbors. Decades of Mithral-exclusive hunting and occupation of the district has left mithral shards embedded in every wall and gap-eyed window above the layers and layers of snow. Thus the district shines in the sunlight with a potentially blinding radiance. In the moon and starlight of the arctic winters, the buildings appear to glow with the light of aurora borealis itself.

Star District

The amicable, curious Star drakes have rendered their district in eastcentral Nome a true metropolis if homogeneous in society. While they have not devoted brainpower to creating new technology, they have restored utilities to their original functions and light up the night sky with artificial lights. They are still territorial overlords who survive by hunting, however, and all who live or enter into their district are fair game.

Elder District

In the tropical southeast below the Star district and beside the southern tip of the Guardian strip lies the territories claimed by the two-headed, six-legged Elder Wyrms. The Elder Wyrms lure the unwary into their district by hibernating for decades, long enough that the creatures forget why there is no threat dragons in this district. When their territories have filled with plentiful life, the Elder Wyrms rise and devour all in a massive bloodbath that leaves few if any survivors.

Pattern District

The ophidian Scitalises have taken the cityscape of frozen, northwestern Nome. What became the Pattern district after their occupation was not their first choice, but it was the only territory left unclaimed by the other, stronger dragons and kind. Few creatures live in this arctic desert, leaving the Scitalises with little choice but to hunt the small arctic prey and turn to cannibalism when this proves insufficient.

Plague District

Nome's diseased mass of Taninivers has taken the cityscape of westcentral Nome between the Scitalises to the north, the Guardians to the east, and the Vishaps to the south. The Taninivers's neighbors conspire to keep the Plague District from expanding its already too-large bounds by any means necessary, usually destruction and the death of Taninivers and others infected. Dragons throughout Nome use the Plague District as a threat and place of exile for the offenders of their societies. Most of those exiled here never live long enough to contract the disease, however, as the Taninivers view them simply as prey.

Ley District

Vishaps have claimed the arid, searing southwest cityscape of Nome, for while it is barren, dusted, and deserted, it houses the central nexus of all ley lines on the continent. The Ley District is none other than the ley capital of Colossus. The lines that spring from the nexus spread and weave throughout every last corner of the continent. With the Taninivers and their Plague to the north, however, Vishaps have become the most furious guardians of the lines and opponents of the Taninivers. They fear their neighbors may pollute the lines with their disease. They are the first responders against any incursion of Taninivers and continuously attempt negotiations with the other dragons of Nome in an effort to rid the continent of the Plague District and their denizens but have thus far made little headway, the other dragons more preoccupied by the affairs within their own districts.

Dragonriders in Nome

Dragonriders are unheard of in Nome due to the lack of humanoids on the continent.


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9: Root the Underground

Places of Interest: Coastland Falls (Strant), Bluemoon Lagoon (Bakiz), Elysian Fields (Root)

Strant

Native species: Bronze dragon, Mist drake, Sea drake

When the continent of Root sunk into the Sea of Colossus, the waves left only shallow stretches of land exposed above the sea and the rest tidepools. In essence, this has created a continental surface of shallow coasts. The temperate Strant forms the northern stretch of rocky coasts and tidepools.

Bronze dragons keep the peace between the Mist and Sea drakes, both of whom refuse to respect the territory claimed by the other drake species. The aggressive Seas openly defy Mists. The Mists, however, are conniving, and use speedy stealth strikes to take what prey they want regardless of territory.

The Bronzes have realized the futility of attempting to prevent every such infraction. Instead, a group of Bronzes monitors their jurisdiction for larger scale conflicts between full rampages of Mists and Seas. They put a stop to these struggles and their potentially devastating consequences to Strant, using violence if they must to drive the Mists and Seas back to their own territories.

The Bronzes also ensure that the drakes don't overstrain the resources within their jurisdictions, including the hunting of humanoids. While the Bronzes permit this hunting to an extent, they defend Strant's aquatic humanoids when the drakes become too aggressive. This has led many humanoid clans to give sacrifices to the Bronzes to present to the drakes instead of having the drakes claim members of the clan by chance.

While the hunting and gathering clans of Strant don't openly war with one another, some kidnap members of another clan to offer to the Bronzes as sacrifices. This has led to kidnapping vendettas between these clans, often with the spoken or unspoken approval of the clan elders.

Bakiz

Native species: Tidepool dragon, Sea drake

Bakiz comprises the tropical south of Root. Like the temperate north, Bakiz is a region of tidepools surrounded by coastlines to the east, south, and west. The land peaks at a ridge between the temperate and tropical zone and gradually descends further into the Sea of Colossus, creating a coastal shelf encrusted by coral reef below the waters.

Unchecked by Bronzes or other powerful rivals, Sea drakes have free reign over the Bakiz shallows, and theirs is a reign of lightning-fuelled tyranny. The inbred Seas band together in rampages that swim everywhere over Bakiz, hunting, killing, and engaging other rampages in brutal combat over territory to be abandoned as freely as it was entered.

Tidepool dragons don't dare oppose the mightier Sea drakes and instead make their best attempt at stealth while the rampage of Seas swims through. Unlike the Seas, Tidepools have a strictly defined sense of territory and, once claimed, they never leave such territory by choice. Tidepools are sometimes displaced from their territory when they must flee from preying Sea drakes.

Aquatic humanoids of Bakiz often forge an alliance with a displaced Sea drake, offering the protection of a group. The hunting and gathering groups in Bakiz are small, however, no larger than a family.

These families travel to keep from being discovered by Sea drakes and to follow their food sources. Fortunately, the great coral reefs surrounding Bakiz have cultivated a diverse flora and fauna, so these families are rarely in danger of starvation.

When a family encounters another, the two often make arrangements to meet again at a set time for mating with the males typically joining the female's family in order to provide additional protection for the pregnant female and the new generation. The entire family raises the new generation.

Root

Native species: Imperial Underworld dragon, Cave dragon, Dungeon dragon, Prism dragon, Glass Wyrm

Deep below Strant, Bakiz, and the tides of the Sea of Colossus lies the massive, subterranean heart of the sunken continent. Hidden sea caverns provide the entrance into the cavern, but one must travel far through the perilous tunnels to enter the upper layer of Root, which sits just below the underground river rapids. Each successive layer of the underground complex is hotter and less oxygenated than the last. While this promotes hibernation of the deepest dragon denizens, it does nothing to hold them back once they've awoken.

Glass Wyrms occupy and proliferate the first and uppermost layer of Root just below the underground river rapids. The dripping mineral water has created a mass of caverns toothed with stalactites and stalagmites. The Glass Wyrms have incorporated these natural formations into the twisting, winding corridors they create within the caverns while mining for gemstones to consume. Their broken-glass-like scales embed within the mineral floors, walls, and sometimes cavern ceilings. They reflect any light within their lairs to dazzling and even blinding magnitude. Glass Wyrms keep to their own lairs, but vicious territorial battles have erupted when one trepasses into the lair of another even if by accident.

Prism dragons control the second layer of root, and theirs is truly control. They use their psychic abilities and illusions to create an alternate reality in the minds of the subterranean humanoids that make up their treasure hoard. Each Prism subjects their hoard to a different false reality. They congregate at regular intervals to compare notes on the state of their hoard. Meanwhile, their humanoids have no idea that they're part of a study hoard controlled by Prism dragons. They're not even aware of the presence of Prisms in this layer of Root. Depending on the illusions of the hoard, some of them don't realize that they're underground either.

The third layer of Root is the realm of the Dungeon dragons. Much like the Prisms above, they have amassed hoards not of treasure but subterranean humanoids. Their greatest pleasure is to force these humanoids to traverse the trapped and monster-populated labyrinth of their lairs, promising freedom to those who survive to the end. Instead of freedom, however, the surviving humanoids are passed on to the Dungeon's latest project labyrinth of horrors. As Dungeons prefer to flee rather than to fight, when they infrequently encounter another of their kind while carving out new labyrinths, they tend to ignore one another and turn tail, excavating in opposite directions.

The fourth and darkest layer of Root, just above the lava flows, belongs to the eyeless Cave dragons. They earth glide through the caverns of their territory, hunting and eating anything they might come across. Despite their intelligence, these dragons are slaves to their own hunger and will not stop themselves from wiping out entire populations if they should find them. At times, this leaves the Caves with little choice but to cannibalize and hibernate.

The fifth and deepest habitable layer of Root is lit by the fires and lava from the core of Colossus. Here rule the Imperial Underworld dragons. Intelligent and organized, they hibernate in rotations so that all territory belonging to one family of Imperial Underworlds is always guarded by members of that family. Wyrms and wyrmlings are paired for their rotation, as are the very young and the ancients, the juvenile and the very old, the young adult and the old, and the adults and mature adults. While each family claims to respect the territory of another family, they keep watch for any sign of weakness, at which they will gladly kill the guarding Imperial Underworlds and murder all those hibernating in order to add to their territory.

The majority of subterranean humanoids of Root belong either to the hoards of the Prisms on the second layer or the hoards of the Dungeons on the third. Some escape to the first layer above or the fourth layer below. Few live long enough to adapt to the low-temperature humidity and blinding glasscapes of the first layer or the increased heat and deeper darkness of the fourth.

Humanoids in both Prism and Dungeon hoards are kept in manageable groups, their populations in between a small village and a large town. Those in Prism hoards never see the dragons in their true forms and most do not realize they're trapped underground with their societies subtly shaped by the whims of their hidden masters. Those in Dungeon hoards live a life of constant confinement, fear, and testing-they are very aware that they are at the whim of their subterranean tyrants.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Elder Wyrm, Taniniver, Vishap

Few of the denizens of Root can oppose Guardian dragon and Elder Wyrm immigrants. Strant's Bronze dragons and the deep-dwelling families of Imperial Underworld dragons are some of the few who, in their groups, can expel and even hunt Guardians or Elder Wyrms on their territory. Everywhere else, these dragons take what they will and utterly destroy those who do not flee far and fast enough. Prism dragons are especially sensitive to incursions of Guardians and Elder Wyrms with those driven off becoming objects of wretched pity to the others for losing their hoards.

Mithral dragons gravitate toward the mineral-, metal-, and gem-rich mines of the underground Root over the coastal Strant and Bakiz. While their first instinct is to negotiate territory, they must at times take it by force from the Glass Wyrms. The shining, glittering caverns of the first layer of Root utterly captivate the Mithrals so that few attempt to delve deeper.

Vishaps follow the ley lines. While the Bronzes prevent them from settling in Strant, they have little trouble acquiring territory in Bakiz and the first and second layers of Root. Some unfortunate Vishaps are drawn by the signs of greater ley lines in the depths of Root only to encounter a Dungeon or Cave Great Wyrm. Those who survive to reach the lowest depths of Root are mercilessly hunted and killed by a family of Imperial Underworlds.

The universally hated taninivers are the one factor that will unite even the most solitary and separatist of the continent's dragons. At the first sight of a taniniver, all observing dragons attack the single, diseased target with the intent to kill. Despite these desperate efforts, the non-diseased dragons are not always successful. That territory claimed by the surviving taniniver becomes a blighted place which all dragons avoid. Like the plague.

Dragonriders in Root

Immigrant dragons are most likely to bond with Riders in the deeper layers of Root, as few meet true opposition in Bakiz. What opposition they receive from the Bronze dragons of Strant tends only to be sufficient force to drive them to Bakiz.

Riders are unheard of in Bakiz due to Sea drakes's general hostility toward the aquatic humanoids and the tiny size of the Tidepool dragons.

Riders in Strant are rare, but some humanoids, usually those ostracized within their own clan, leave the clan to seek out the Bronze dragons. If the humanoid can find favor with the Bronze, they may end up as a Rider. If the humanoid cannot or loses favor before bonding, they become one of the sacrifices.

Riders in Root are exceedingly rare. Most dragons of Root prefer to lord it over humanoids from a distance, and those humanoid hoards of the Prism dragons aren't even aware of the presence of dragons. On those rare occasions that bonding occurs, it is to an immigrant dragon on the verge of death by the hands of the native dragons.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10: Sine the Hills

Places of Interest: Cave of the Sleepers (Kels), Village on the Hill (Ondaga), Spire Hill (Samian)

Kels

Native species: Ice drake, Mist drake, Spire drake, Cairn linnorm, Crag linnorm, Ice linnorm

The arctic north of Sine is Kels, a region of broken glaciers at its northmost that drift and collide over time with its frozen cliffs, a bond by cold and ice. The massive surface of snows over the cliffs extends down into the north of the continent. Earthquakes have created gouging rifts in the snow, icy crevasses that drop through centuries worth of frozen precipitation to seemingly no end. These rifts score the entirety of Kels to create a glacial landscape of pseudo and deathly hills and vales.

Cairn linnorms, eaters of the undead, were once the rulers of Kels. Ever since the fall of humanoid kind, the number of undead has been on the decline, sending more and more Cairns into hibernation deep within the rifts. Now the Ice linnorms have taken control of most of the north and theirs is a ravenous tyranny.

The Ices prey with insatiable hunger on all beings in their territories, including other linnorms and dragonkind. They have all but wiped out the humanoids who once lived here in their unchecked feeding and have nearly done the same with Crag linnorms and Ice drakes.

Unlike the Mist and Spire drakes, the Crag linnorms and Ice drakes of Kels stand out by their bold or perhaps brash hunting methods in spite of the Ice linnorms who have claimed the territory on which they hunt. The Crags and Ice drakes would rather suffer the wrath and hunger of the Ice linnorms than their own hunger for food is scarce in Kels. The Ice linnorms have unintentionally made sure of that. As a result, hibernation has become the increasingly common resort.

The Mist and Spire drakes have chosen hibernation with their respective rampages. They wake, independently of the other species, at intervals in years to leave their hidden lairs to hunt in stealth from the Ice linnorms.

Ondaga

Native species: Amphiptere, Fire drake, Flame drake, Spire drake, Pseudowyrm, Spine dragon, Wyvern

As one heads south, the frozen rifts of the north give way to true hills and valleys in the temperate central region of Sine known as Ondaga. Eastern Ondaga is home to heaths and moors whose shurbs thrive in the frequent rains. The further west the hills roll, the less scrub grows until they roll as barren mounds of stone.

Spine dragons rule the moorland of Ondaga with the iron fist of totalitarianism. They've parceled Ondaga into territories and within each territory, the reigning Spines have taken to indoctrinating all sentient species with the belief that they are gods. Their favorite subjects are humanoids and Spire drakes for their intelligence, for they can truly fear and worship a god.

The Spines keep their humanoid and Spire cultists in the same settlement, often with the humanoids in a village at the top of a hill and the Spires in the vale below or vice versa depending on their desired aesthetic. The humanoids are tasked with furthering the temple/lair of the Spines through mining or other construction means. The Spires serve as guards of the Spines and the settlement, but are encouraged to be suspicious of the humanoids to help prevent any uprisings. The humanoids fear the Spires, knowing that it is only by the will of their gods, the Spines, that the Spires have not devoured them.

The Spines have not attempted to tame the savage Wyverns and Flame drakes of Ondaga but have instead confined them to specific, strategic areas of their territory. As long as the Wyverns and Flames accept the sovereignty of the Spines, they are free to act as they will within their respective granted lands, including hunting and devouring unfaithful cultists released into these lands. Those flights who attempt to defy their Spine overlords are placed at the mercy of the Spines's loyal rampages of Spire drakes.

The weaker Amphipteres and Fire drakes are easier for the Spines to cow, and many have cowed them into service. Those serving Amphipteres and Fires work in mining or construction efforts, providing light or carrying heavy loads. Those who serve are rewarded with hunting rights on choice grounds. Those few who don't are ostracized and sent to territories by the Wyvern territories. The Spines are happy to turn a blind eye to any such Amphiptere or Fire death at the hands of the Wyverns.

Humanoids who aren't among the cultist villages of the Spines either having escaped or been delivered to the Wyverns and miraculously escaped, can't risk grouping larger than a family. They live as stealthy hunters and gatherers who change their abode when whatever pursuing them may come too close to discovery. These families or solitary humanoids have a very short life expectancy and a nearly nonexistent birth rate. On extremely rare occasions, a solitary humanoid or family can afford to allow another humanoid to join up with them with risk to the food supply or trackability.

Samian

Native species: Copper dragon, Amphiptere, Lava drake, Rift drake, Spire drake, Pseudowyvern, Wyvern

The barren stone hills of Ondaga roll into volcanic mounds in the blisteringly hot south of Sine. This southern region of Samian was created by low-viscosity lava flows resulting in gently sloped but deadly hills also known as shield volcanoes. While these don't erupt in huge, catastrophic explosions, lava flows are frequent and continuously adding to the heights of Samian's scrub-covered hills.

Samian is the war zone of the Lava drakes who crawl out of the volcanoes and the Rift drakes who circle the dark, clouded skies overhead. Though the two could easily coexist, both are extremely territorial. Moreover, the Lavas blame the Rifts for the lack of humanoids in Samian, which leave them without a supply of cultists, while the Rifts merely enjoy combat and killing. Both travel in rampages large and deadly enough to oust Samian's Copper dragons as the region's dominant dragon.

At the time of the humanoids's fall and Dragpocalypse's inception, Cooper dragons designated themselves as the weakened humanoids's keepers. They used combat, however, as a means of entrapping an audience for their extensive comedy routines sometimes lasting four hours at a stretch. One fateful day, the entire main force of the Coppers found themselves entertaining and the humanoids without any protection. The following onslaught by Rift rampages utterly wiped them out.

In their guilt, the Coppers have taken up the protection of their weaker draconic cousins, the Amphipteres and Pseudowyverns, but the lack of intelligent conversation is a constant burden upon their souls. Though kind to their wild draconic cousins, the Coppers tend to see and treat them as perma-toddlers.

Spire drakes stay on the single, small territory they've managed to keep from being claimed by the Lavas or the Rifts. They swarm these hills as a single, mega-rampage of defensive necessity. Their lawful tendencies have proven a boon here, as each Spire stays within its bounds, although they are always on the lookout for weakness. The first sign of such is enough to prompt the murder of a neighbor to obtain their land.

Unlike the Spires who stay on their territory by choice, the Wyverns have been herded onto a small territory by force. With the quick breeding of the relatively powerful beasts and their willingness to travel in large flights, the Lavas and Rifts have done all that they can to wipe out the Wyverns and failed. The most they can manage is to keep the majority of them off the best hunting grounds and savagely attack the flights that leave their designated area. The Wyverns, however, are having none of it and continue launching forays into the claimed territories.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Star drake, Elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Taniniver, Vishap

Immigrants are more common in Kels than any other region of Sine due to the solitary nature of the Ice linnorms that rule its wastes. Guardian and Mithral dragons, Elder Wyrms, Taninivers, and Vishaps are more than a match for the Ices in solo combat. Star drakes and Scitalises, however, don't stand a chance and, if discovered, are promptly consumed.

In Ondaga, Spine dragons alone would be unable to hunt the many of the mighty roaming immigrant dragons, but they have multiple forces at their command: besides their own rank and number, their loyal rampages of Spire drakes and the unchecked savagery of the Wyverns. These combined threats can take down even the likes of a Guardian dragon given enough time. As such, immigrants who enter Ondaga are eliminated sooner rather than later.

In Samian, immigrants are not eliminated so much as they are worn down by constant onslaughts by Rift and Lava drakes, and any chance rampage of Spire drakes or flight of Wyverns. Copper dragons, meanwhile, may take the opportunity to keep an immigrant dragon to themselves not to save their lives but to entrap them as a permanent, intelligent audience, even if they must fight said immigrant to do so. When an immigrant does manage to secure a territory, it is mostly likely from having bested their Copper dragon abductor.

Dragonriders in Sine

Riders are unheard of in Kels and Samian primarily due to the fact that humanoids are equally as unheard of. In Ondaga, no Spine dragon would ever bond with one of their humanoid cultists nor allow a humanoid to bond with any other of their subjects in order to maintain the balance of power. Thus, the much-hated immigrant dragons are more likely than any other draconic species to bond with a humanoid in Ondaga.


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11: Stratus in the Sky

Places of Interest: Floating Carnival (Stratus)

Stratus

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, Elder Wyrm, Star drake

Stratus is an island continent that drifts through the skies of Colossus without ever touching down onto land or sea. Legend has it that Stratus came to be when the primordial god of dragons bound cloudmass in the heavens into a permanent shape. Although this god has been all but forgotten since before the onset of Dragpocalypse, life on the cloudmass has flourished, both flora and fauna. Plants unlike any seen on the continent proper growing on Stratus, their roots drawing water from the heart of the eternal cloud and their leaves absorbing the powerful sunrays within the upper limits of the troposphere.

Guardian dragons each control a territory full of architecture dedicated to the lost creator god of Stratus. Most of the buildings stand in ruins, but a rare few remain intact and these are guarded religiously. The solitary Guardians only stray from their territory if absolutely necessary, at times consuming only plant matter to sustain themselves to avoid hunting offsite.

Elder Wyrms are the sleeping nightmare of the denizens of Stratus. Though centuries can pass before one rouses from slumber, each period of Elder Wyrm Wakening rains a brief but near-apocalyptic tyranny of terror upon the denizens. None are truly safe from the hunting Elder Wyrms, and even the Guardians struggle to protect their territory from their ruthless, wanton onslaught of centuries of built-up hunger.

Mithral dragons are the only consistent governing force in Stratus. While they don't impose their wills on the sentient denizens of the island, they do negotiate boundary disputes and the like to keep the peace and delicate ecological balance between the species. Even Stratus's humanoids feel comfortable coming to the Mithrals as the designated arbiters.

Star drakes live in cluster upon cluster in their own metropolis at the southern tip of the island. Clusters are constantly coming and going from the settlement to the continents down below. The Stars keep records and travel logs of their journeys here. They have amiable relations with the Mithrals and humanoids on Stratus, but keep mostly to themselves and do not allow other species to settle in their metropolis.

Humanoids in Stratus are able to live as tribes in settlements as large as villages, but the delicate ecological balance on the cloudmass prevents them from expanding and even living too close to another tribe.

The tribes tend to support themselves through subsistence farming with additional hunting and gathering. Tribes are able to trade with each other, but the prevalence of contagious disease, especially between tribe animals, has discouraged such trade.

Although the settlements are far from each other, there are the occasional territorial disputes. When they arise, the Mithral dragons intervene to prevent war and settle the disputes as quickly as possible.

Dragonriders in Stratus

Most Riders in Stratus have bonded with Mithral dragons. Not only are the Mithrals the least hostile dragons, but with their regular intervention in the lives of humanoids, the humanoids have much more contact with Mitrals than other dragons.

Humanoids who develop an interest in the Mithrals can sometimes persuade the Mithrals to allow them to live with the dragons for a time. If they find favor with a dragon, the dragon will bond with them, but this does mean that the humanoid must forsake their life with their tribe forever.


	12. Chapter 12

Part 12: Zenith the Mountain

Places of Interest: Thunderice Mountain (Helkon), Blackcap (Oredis), Volcanic Canyon (Piton)

Helkon

Native species: White dragon, Imperial Sovereign dragon, Frost drake, Ice drake, Tor linnorm, Ice linnorm

The towering, volcanic mountain range that fills the entirety of Zenith begins in the frigid north, the region of Helkon. The rain from the eastern, mountainous coast can't make it over the outermost mountains, but the height of the mountains in the center and on the west coast are covered in snow.

The peace and beauty Helkon's snow white mountainscape is constantly challenged and broken by the unceasing war between the Imperial Sovereign dragons and the Tor linnorms. The conflict, which began around the time of Dragpocalypse's own onset, has wrecked absolute devastation on the denizens of Helkon and the ecosystems on which they depend, driving many species into extinction, including Helkon's humanoids.

This conflict over territory and, ultimately, supremacy, has split the other dragonkind in Helkon down the genetic line. The Ice linnorms have aligned themselves with the Tors while the White dragons and the Frost drakes under their influence have aligned with the Imperial Sovereigns. These alliances are not so much of choice as they are necessities of survival and a declaration of negative preference-the Ices would rather fight with the linnorms rather than with the dragons and vice versa for the dragons and drakes.

The one interesting outcome of this war is the sharing territory between allies. Rather than drawing strict territorial boundaries for each species, the linnorms hunt on a general linnorm territory while the dragons and drakes hunt on their own general territory.

Oredis

Native species: Silver dragon, Imperial Sovereign dragon, Amphiptere, Flame drake

The central mountainous region of Zenith, Oredis, exists in a temperate zone with torrential rains along the precipitous coastline and a dry west. The mountains of Oredis aren't as tall as those of Helkon in the north but are much more volcanically active, resulting in almost eternal dark skies and black snows of water and ash.

Much like Helkon, the black-snowed peaks of Oredis are a war-torn battlescape between the Silver dragons and the Imperial Sovereign dragons. With the onset of Dragpocalypse, the Silvers quickly attempted to establish some semblance of order and protection for the weaker species, but the Imperial Sovereigns strained against the Silvers's authoritarian methods, and territorial conflicts soon escalated to all-out war.

This war has lasted ever since and has only become more devastating with time. Unlike their neighbor to the north, though many species have been brought to extinction by the war, the lower altitude, rich soils, and less severe climate of Oredis has allowed humanoid species to hang on by a thread, though they have no true settlement of their own.

Humanoids have become tactical pawns in the war between the Silvers and Imperial Sovereigns, used as Riders to rapidly empower dragons on either side whether the humanoids like it or not in many cases. For the Silvers, it's simply a matter of the greater good-they firmly believe that should the Imperial Sovereigns win, humanoids will be wiped out from Oredis. In the case of the Imperial Sovereigns, humanoids are kidnapped, brainwashed and bred to be living tools and weapons to their draconic masters.

Amphipteres and Flame drakes have been turned to scavengers by the war, descending on battlefields after the fact and living off the carnage. They present no real threat to either of Oredis's superpowers and are all too happy to be ignored.

Piton

Native species: Red dragon, Imperial Sky dragon, Imperial Sovereign dragon, Lava drake, Rift drake

The sun bakes the canyons of the southern mountains in Piton, but as one ascends, the temperature cools enough to maintain permanent snows on the mountain tops. While the mountains of Piton are volcanic, rather than erupt, heat and pressure are released through the river-sized lava flows at the base of Piton's canyons.

Due to an alliance between the Imperial Sky dragons and the Imperial Sovereign dragons, the Red dragons have been relegated to one small corner of the region. While the alliance has broken down with the Imperial Skys and the Imperial Sovereigns leaving each other to their own devices, both still rise up to aid each other whenever the Reds strain against the boundaries of their territory.

The Imperial Skys are the benevolent overlords of Piton, keeping a distant but watchful eye over the denizens. They ensure that all the draconic species keep to their own territories, a measure reinforced by the Imperial Sovereigns on the land. The Imperial Sovereigns, however, do so not out of care for all such species, but out of care for their own territory.

The Flame drakes and Rift drakes of Piton have no choice but to abide by the territorial boundaries set and protected by the Imperial Skys and the Imperial Sovereigns. The division of boundaries tends to keep humanoids away from the drakes, but those who trespass in the lands of the drakes are beyond any protection.

While the volcanic soils are rich, the mountains are impassable for humanoids, effectively trapping them in the village into which they are born. The villagers generally practice communal subsistence farming, supplemented by hunting and gathering limited by the territorial bounds of their community. Very few humanoids willingly outstep their bounds unless it is by accident. The worst punishment a villager might receive is banishment outside the safety of the community.

Immigrants

Species: Guardian dragon, Mithral dragon, elder Wyrm, Scitalis, Star drake, Taniniver, Vishap

Helkon and Oredis are both too hostile to immigrants to keep them around for too long. Even native enemies will temporarily unite to keep immigrants from moving into the territory. While some of the immigrant draconic species are extremely powerful, they can stand against the combined might of the other dragons.

The Imperial Skys and Imperial Sovereigns of Piton are, comparatively, much more accommodating to immigrant dragons, to all but the Taninivers. Taninivers find themselves attacked not to be driven off but to be killed by any draconic species they encounter in Piton.

The Imperial Skys and Imperial Sovereigns allow the other immigrant draconic species into Piton so long as those dragons accept the territory given them by the Imperial Skys and Imperial Sovereigns and do not enter territorial warfare with their draconic neighbors. Doing so brings down the wrath of both the Imperial Skys and Imperial Sovereigns as well as the dragon kind nieghbor.

Dragonriders in Zenith

With humanoids driven to extinction in Helkon and Oredis, Piton is the only region of Zenith in which there are Riders. Although Riders are not common, occasionally, a humanoid settlement will pique the interest of an Imperial Sky or an Imperial Sovereign and establish rudimentary relations between the dragon and the villagers.

Those who become Riders leave their life in the village behind for the most part in order to keep company with the patrolling dragon.


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13: Dragons in Space

Places of Interest: Solcano (Solaris), Sea of Dust and Bowl (Lunarium)

Solaris

Native species: Solar dragon

Solaris is the single sun of planet Colossus's solar system. It is just powerful and distant enough to maintain the balance that keeps Colossus's ecosystem from rapidly devolving to food for worms.

Solar dragons are the sole dragonkind inhabiting Solaris, which is all the better for other dragons. Though lawful, they consider themselves the supreme rulers of the entire solar system and have constructed a rigid hierarchy for themselves on Solaris.

At the height of the Solar hierarchy are the Judges, the Great Wyrms. They are revered like gods by the younger generations and while they rarely rise from their slumber at the center of the sun itself, the Solars may call upon their council for the final word on an important matter.

The Wyrms rule the territories into which they've divided Solaris with one Wyrm per territory. Only when the ruling Wyrm becomes a god incarnate as a Great Wyrm will a successor be chosen from the Ancient Solars. The other Ancients will be dismissed from the territory to find their own or to journey into space to find a new sun to inhabit or planet in need of a god.

Lunarium

Native species: Lunar dragon, Time dragon, Void dragon, Vortex dragon

Lunarium is a small moon of gray rock and no atmosphere. Its gravity is far weaker than Colossus's and its temperatures far more extreme. Its barren stone surface has been pitted and cratered by asteroid and other collisions.

Time dragons serve as the keepers of Lunarium society, preventing the Void dragons from warring with the other dragon species, most of whom, apart from the Times, use Lunarium as a base and way station for their interstellar journeys. The Times are always watching as they drift across the black skies of the moon like keen-eyed clouds. When they spot a disturbance, only then will they descend to ensure that no threat has been made against the natural order which they protect.

Void dragons typically struggle with their need to feed and destroy and thus only come to the Times-protected Lunarium in order to heal or rest without disturbance. They tend to stay no longer than absolutely necessary.

Lunar dragons are much the opposite of the Voids. They permanently reside on the moon where they have an unimpeded view of the mortals on Colossus. They find the greatest entertainment in watching these mortals and discussing their findings with other Lunars. Many of them place bets on outcomes of war and other activities, but they never directly interfere.

Vortex dragons have the most hustling and bustling of the territories on Lunarium. They are always coming and going on voyages through space, and many even serve as messengers for other entities in the great beyond. With their busy schedules, they have time for neither war nor interference with the affairs of others.

Immigrants and Dragonriders

While there are rumors of other dragon species and even humanoids, much less Riders, in the vacuum of space, there have been none officially documented as of the writing of this unofficial guide to Dragpocalypse.


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14: Places of Interest, Specific

Arbor

Glass Castle of the Linnorm King (Taiga): The Linnorm King sleeps at the heart of his Glass Castle, a city-sized glacier that formed through snows up snows over a particular evergreen glade gradually crystallized to ice under the pressure of the new layers. The Glass Castle grows a few inches every year, promising to reach mountainous height. It is rumored that the vast wealth of the Linnorm King lies deep within the frozen walls of the Glass Castle, but some say that the true treasure are the prehistoric evergreens within, perfectly preserved with unknown properties abounding in their resin.

Court of the Green (Hylos): The Court of the Green is the secret capital of the society of Green dragons who rule over Hylos. While none know the exact location of the Court, it is said to be hidden deep within the heart of Hylos, safeguarded and concealed by powerful magicks. If rumors be true, then one may find the Court by following the flight of a Green who carries another dragon or dragonkind with them, a political prisoner and potential victim of torture or brainwashing.

Village in the Mist (Akela): The Village in the Mist in the deep jungles of Akela shrouded in mist from dawn until dusk. It was a peaceful village until recently. Herd animals have been disappearing, and the villagers suspect a Kongamato is to blame. The village is too weak to mount a search and destroy party and should they lose more of their herd animals, they may be forced to abandon their village to hide from the insatiable predator.

Village of Ash (Cardoon): A spine forest of acacias surround the Village of Ash, a village in the thrall of a Lava drake 'god.' The village is divided by its faith to the Lava, the true and zealous cult believers and those who secretly pay the drake no more homage than any of the other drakes who roam the hostile, blistering forests of Cardoon. A rebel movement has quietly gathered villagers, but they may be discovered at any moment. This peril and a lack of true might prevents them from striking at the Lava. For now, they await the opportune moment.

Benthos

Rime Strait (Rime): Rime's Rime Strait is the largest arctic crossing in the Sea of Colossus. The narrow passage stretches as far as the eye can see between bodies of ice to rival islands and full of drifting glaciers both seen and unseen. Only adding to the peril are the Gare linnorms that lurk within its icy depths. Their presence has long deterred any exploration into the historical goldmine of sunken submarines at the bottom of the strait.

Sunken Temple (Wegs): Overgrown and concealed by one of Wegs's plentiful forests of kelp sleep the ruins of a once grand and palatial temple that fell to the sea floor when the coasts of its continent crumbled. Its long forgotten idols and altars now host the growth of seaweeds and the animals that nest therein. Gowrows, hundreds of the reptilian beings, have settled in the halls and chambers, using the kelp-choked temple as a base, dragging their prey and spoils of war within its stone and seaweed walls to consume in safety.

Raving Reef (Teresthai): The Raving Reef in the warm, tropical waters of Teresthai is a massive rainbow of corals home to hundreds of thousands of different species of aquatic life, including exceedingly rare fish, sea urchins, and corals-a truly rich hunting ground as dangerous as it is diverse. It's held and patrolled by Coral drakes, Gilded sea serpents, and Mist dragons, sometimes at the same time. As the reef is such a rich, colorful hunting ground, both the Gildeds and Mist dragons have it in their rotation of respective territories. While the two groups try to avoid each other, there are times when both circle through the Raving Reef. Unbeknownst to them, the Coral drakes have stealthily infiltrated the reef, only coming out into the light when neither of the two are present. While hiding, their hunger is left to grow for weeks, leading to an explosive re-entry and churning waters for days.

Wandering Isles (Sea of Colossus): There are rumors of a group of islands within the Sea of Colossus that appear and disappear throughout the year, rising and sinking into the dark waves of the open ocean. The fives, six, or perhaps seven islands are always spotted together, each containing a forested environ somehow capable of withstanding months below the surface of the water. No one knows why exactly these islands rise, sink, and change position around the globe, but those who've claimed to see the Wandering Isles also claim that each isle is home to a single constructed and completed piece of architecture-a tower, a temple, a bridge, and more. No one, however, has made landfall upon an isle and returned to tell the tale.

Maw of Colossus (Benthos): In the depths of Benthos sits a jagged trench that gouges the sea floor to bring forth an underwater river of fiery lava venting from the center of Colossus. Snaking miles of hot, thermal gases thicken the already pressurized waters with their noxious plumes. Not even the Deep Hunter sea serpents can bear this hostile environment, but every now and then the waters darken with the shadow of the great and monstrous terror that can withstand these trials to call this foul place home.

Karoo

Natural History Museum (Tundar): Hundreds of feet below the sterile, frozen wastes of Tundar is rumored to be the ruins of an ancient humanoid kingdom encapsulated in ice and time. Back when the world was young and the temperature hot, Tundar was a thriving grasslands home to plentiful lifeforms and expanding kingdoms. One such kingdom was supposedly incredibly advanced for its time, blessed perhaps by the gods or other extraterrestrial beings. Then came the snows of the Ice Age that fell without ceasing. They collapsed every last ecosystem in Tundar but perhaps preserved one in icen crystal.

Badfield (Vanta): The temperate waste of Badfield is a stretch of scrubgrass badlands that separate the humanoids who live in dugouts on either end. Amphipteres roll, rollick, and rut throughout the hostile stretch, though are just as often found cannibalizing each other. In short, they stand, literally, between the last hope of the two families to extend their family lines. Both families are doomed to die out without escorts across Badfield and leave the badlands all the more barren for it.

Maze of Dune (Asharu): Deep within the orange-gold sands of Asharu lies a stone canyon carved by centuries of sandstorms. The sand has abraded through the patches of softer stone in the amalgamation, creating holes and tunnels through the striated stone plateau. Blue dragons have claimed the wind-carved canyon and use it for sport. They release captured prey into the canyon where they allow their young to hunt and often gamble on the result.

Lea

Will-O-Bog (Bogach): Will-o-Bog is a bastion of natural beauty amongst the cold and merciless marshes of Bogach, though it is no less cold and merciless. The murky waters of Will-o-Bog trap and release the heat and natural gases of the organic matter that decays in their depths. The combination of the two creates colorful will-o-wisps throughout the marsh that often lure unwary creatures into its watery perils. Those that sink below the surface may notice the ancient menhir rings, remnants of power from the druids that once claimed these lands, not that these observations will prevent the sinker's untimely death.

Bridge of Reeds (Mariskaz): The Bridge of Reeds in the perilous, sinking wetlands of Mariskaz is not a bridge at all but the narrow route of safe passage from one side of Blackweed Swamp to the other. The route is known only to the elders of the Blackweed Tribe who have hoarded this knowledge for generations to keep any from daring to cross and drawing insatiably hungry Peludas back to their hidden village. Although none know for sure why any would want to cross the Bridge of Weeds in the first place, the far side of the swamp is supposedly the garden of a rare herb root of priceless worth to witches, alchemists, and other brewers of potions.

Village in the Shadow (Meithleorai): The largest settlement in Meithleorai is the Village in the Shadow at the border of a wide, grassy plain stretching as far as the eye can see and a salt flat of even greater expanse that reflects the sun back on itself during the day. Unfortunately for the village, its growing population and bustling activities have drawn the attention of the Psiwyrms who soar overhead. The village council has grown to fear an impending attack by their overlords. Though they have a plan to secret away citizens to other villages through underground tunnels, they have no means of implementing it in time without outside aid.

Crown of Salt (Zabana): In a salt flat hundreds of miles from the closest safety of the golden-green grass savannah, salt rises in a ring of seven towering pillars. The top of each pillar has become a nest for the seven strongest Salt drakes in the flat. Here they raise their young and hoard what treasures they've found in the salt-crusted ruins of long-fallen civilizations.

Nome

Melting Eye (Nome): The Melting Eye is the outermost ring of destruction around Nome's gradually expanding Plague District, home of its population of Taninivers. When the surrounding Scitalises, Guardian dragons, and Vishaps push back against the incursions of Taninivers, they invariably destroy the ancient, remnant structures of the city that once spread over the entire continent of Nome. The Melting Eye has been cursed and warped by the desperate magicks of the dragons. The very air burns one's lungs yet still remains ineffective against the Taniniver's plague. Simply entering the Melting Eye has proven a death sentence for lesser dragons.

Root

Coastland Falls (Strant): Hidden away at the center of the sunken coastlands of Strant is a massive, oceanic waterfall that cascades from all sides into the darkness of a gaping chasm without any end in sight. Coastland Falls can only be seen by those looking down from on high. While many dragons have roosted in the chasm under the cover of the falling seas, none who have ventured down to the bottom of the falls and have ever returned.

Bluemoon Lagoon (Bakiz): The Sea drakes who rule the shallows of Bakiz have claimed the largest, clearest, and bluest lagoon as their own. Bluemoon takes its name from its crescent moon shape and the glittering blue of its pristine waters. It is here where they keep court, a coming and going of Sea drakes who pass along the latest gossip from across the region and continent.

Elysian Fields (Root): Deep beneath the surface of Colossus, there is a land of bluest skies and greenest fields where humanoids live in a simple, agrarian, and utopian society known as Elysian Fields. All of this, of course, is an illusion created by one of the Prism dragons in the second layer of Root. Unbeknownst to the denizens of Elysian Fields, they are not a first iteration. Their lives are a part of a grand experiment about the humanoid psyche when those in perfect safety and harmony become victims of sudden tragedy.

Sine

Cave of the Sleepers (Kels): With the depletion of the humanoid kind and their undead brethern, a group of undead-eating Cairn linnorms burrowed a lair into the side of one of Sine's deepest and iciest crevasses. There they wait in slumber atop the many treasures their now-extinct prey once held. They've accumulated such a vast hold of magickal artifacts that their hoard has rerouted the surrounding ley lines, much to the interest of the Vishaps in the glacial hills above.

Village on the Hill (Ondaga): The Village on the Hill is but one of the many villages forced into the cultdom worship of Spine dragons. The humanoid villagers here are especially zealous, due to the Spines overt favor at the expense of the Spire drakes who must also serve and worship the Spines. This has given rise to no little resentment among of the Spires and has even led some to thoughts of rebellion.

Spire Hill (Samian): Spire Hill is one of the many Spire drake reserves suffering from severe overcrowding. Successive booms in Spire births have strained resources to the breaking point. There have been rumors of the most desperate of the Spires resorting to cannibalism of the sick and the weak and even fatal hunting forays into Wyvern territory.

Stratus

Floating Carnival (Stratus): The Floating Carnival was once a carnival on the surface of Colossus, a technological marvel by all accounts, and such a spectacle that it is said that the lost creator god of Stratus themself scooped the carnival up from the earth so that its presence might grace their floating continent. A Guardian dragon was assigned to the now Floating Carnival to protect it and keep its every function in tip top shape.

Zenith

Thunderice Mountain (Helkon): Thunderice Mountain is not the tallest mountain in Helkon, but it is unique in that it is beneath a perpetual thunderstorm. It is always thundering, and if it isn't snowing, it is raining, sleeting, or hailing. The brutal, inhospital weather, however, has made it one of the few places that neither the Tor linnorms nor the Imperial Sovereigns have interest in, and has thus become a secret haven for the refugees of their warring.

Blackcap (Oredis): Blackcap is the highest mountain amongst the snow and ash covered peaks in Oredis. The eastern half of the mountain belongs to the Silver dragons while the western half belongs to the Imperial Sovereigns. Its peak is actually too high to permit conventional, aerial dragon fighting, which has led to the peak becoming a war campsite, a place of planning, rest, and recovery, on both separated sides.

Volcanic Canyon (Piton): Piton's Volcanic Canyon is the deepest, widest, and grandest of all the canyons in the land. A river of lava runs down at its base and volcanic gases billow up from the cracks in the earth. While deadly to humanoids, the concoction of chemicals has given rise to a wealth of diverse bacteria and plant life, among other extremophiles which can't be found anywhere else on Colossus.

Space

Solcano (Solaris): Solcano is a constant and massive solar flare that burns miles up from the surface of Solaris and is visible by those outer dragons and other beings flying just above the star itself. It is famed as the spot where the Great Wyrm Judges like to hold court during their legendary gatherings.

Sea of Dust and Bowl (Lunarium): The Sea of Dust and Bowl is the largest crater on Lunarium. It is so vast that it creates a distinct, ocean-sized region on its sector of the moon. The gray dusts here are constantly storming and have created an ever-shifting desert of gray dunes. Things and even beings lost here are unlikely ever to be found.


End file.
